This bill establishes 2 attorney positions in the department of justice and 2 state trooper positions in the department of safety who shall be assigned to the cold case homicide unit. The positions are established and funded for the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Cold Case Homicide Unit; Positions Established.

I. There are hereby established within the department of justice for the biennium ending June 30, 2021, 2 full-time, unclassified attorney positions who shall be assigned to the department's cold case homicide unit established in RSA 21-M:8-m to work exclusively on unsolved murders in the state. The salary for each of these positions shall be determined after assessment and review of the appropriate temporary salary grade in RSA 94:1-a, I(c) which shall be conducted pursuant to RSA 94:1-d and RSA 14:14-c. The department of justice shall fund these positions from the department's biennial operating budget.

II. There are hereby established within the department of safety, division of state police, for the biennium ending June 30, 2021, 2 full-time, classified state police positions who shall be assigned to the department of justice, cold case homicide unit established in RSA 21-M:8-m to work exclusively on unsolved murders in the state. One position shall be established at the rank of sergeant and one position established shall be at the rank of trooper first class. The compensation for each position shall be determined pursuant to RSA 21-I and the collective bargaining agreement. The department of safety shall fund these positions from the department's biennial operating budget.

2 Repeal. Section 1 of this act, relative to positions established in the cold case homicide unit, is repealed.

*Expenditures would exceed these amounts if increased prosecutions or convictions occurred.

METHODOLOGY:

This bill establishes 2 attorney positions in the Department of Justice and 2 State Trooper positions in the Department of Safety who shall be assigned to the cold case homicide unit. The positions are established for the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years. The Department of Justice assumes the attorney positions will be funded for the FY 2020-2021 fiscal years and the ongoing need would be evaluated in future budget cycles. The Department indicates there would be no revenue generated as a result of the bill and estimated the cost of the positions would be $220,000 in FY 2020 and $224,000 in FY 2021.

The Department of Safety calculated the cost for the additional Detective Sergent and Detective as follows:

FY 2020

FY 2021

Detective Sergent LG 26, Step 9 Salary and Benefits

$148,096

$149,199

Detective LG 21, Step 9 plus detective differential pay

$132,594

$133,699

Overtime Costs

$12,988

$12,988

Expenses: Fuel, Telephone, Supplies, Software

and Travel

$18,600

$15,600

Equipment: Cruiser, Personal Equipment, Laptop, Work Stations

$86,082

$4,800

Total Expenditures:

$398,360

$316,286

The Department assumes, based on the purpose of the bill, the positions would be filled at the maximum step because seasoned troopers would be needed to fill the roles.

The Judicial Council reports this bill will increase state expenditures for the indigent defense system under two conditions: 1) the additional attorneys established in this bill result in more prosecutions of the approximately 128 cold cases in NH; and 2) the defendants being prosecuted cannot afford an attorney. The Council reports an average homicide takes approximately 635 total attorney hours in the public defense system. Some elasticity exists in the Public Defender Program to absorb additional cases without an increase in state appropriations. However, the Council reports cold cases are significantly more labor intensive due to: witnesses being difficult to locate; memories are not as fresh; the quality of physical evidence may have deteriorated, which may require expert services; and cases are more likely to go to trial due to issues with evidence. While the Council predicts most cases prosecuted would be assigned attorneys within the Public Defender Program, a prosecution with multiple co-defendants would be appointed under the assigned counsel program. The assigned counsel is reimbursed at a rate of $100 an hour for homicides and other serious felonies. The Council has limited examples of cold cases paid within assigned counsel program. However, two recent cases with assigned counsel, which were not technically cold cases but had delayed prosecutions, cost approximately $200,000 per case in legal representation and expert services.

In addition to impacts on the Judicial Council, this bill contains penalties that may have an impact on other aspects of the New Hampshire judicial and correctional systems. There is no method to determine how many charges would be brought as a result of the changes contained in this bill to determine the fiscal impact on expenditures. However, the entities impacted have provided the potential costs associated with these penalties below.

Judicial Branch

FY 2020

FY 2021

Complex Criminal Case

$933

$939

Appeals

Varies

Varies

It should be noted that average case cost estimates for FY 2020 and FY 2021 are based on data that is more than ten years old and does not reflect changes to the courts over that same period of time or the impact these changes may have on processing the various case types.

Department of Corrections

FY 2018 Average Cost of Incarcerating an Individual

$40,615

$40,615

FY 2018 Annual Marginal Cost of a General Population Inmate

$4,620

$4,620

FY 2018 Average Cost of Supervising an Individual on Parole/Probation

$571

$571

When the Department of Justice is involved in an appeal, the Department would likely absorb the cost within its existing budget. If the Department is involved an a significant amount of appeals, then costs may increase by an indeterminable amount.